Trial begins for area man caught in probe into world’s largest child porn site

A federal trial began Monday in San Antonio for an area man charged in an investigation into what was considered the world’s largest child pornography web site.
Andrew Morgan Weathers of Seguin is one of a handful of people charged locally as part of the FBI’s investigation into “Playpen,” a site that operated on the dark web. The site was shut down in 2015 after the FBI secretly took control of it to identify visitors. At its height, Playpen had more than 150,000 users, the FBI said.

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A federal trial began Monday in San Antonio for an area man charged in an investigation into what was considered the world’s largest child pornography web site.

Andrew Morgan Weathers of Seguin is one of a handful of people charged locally as part of the FBI’s investigation into “Playpen,” a site that operated on the dark web. The site was shut down in 2015 after the FBI secretly took control of it to identify visitors. At its height, Playpen had more than 150,000 users, the FBI said.

Weathers is charged with one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. His lawyer told jurors on Monday that he confessed to protect a family member.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson told jurors in opening arguments that they’ll hear evidence that the FBI searched the Seguin home that Weathers shared with a girlfriend, now his wife, and two juveniles.

Agents seized a Dell computer and spoke to Weathers, who said he saw child pornography but thought “it was result of popups” or a computer virus.

He then confessed he had used the computer to access child porn on the Playpen website and others.

“He told agents he wanted to speak candidly, and that he had been accessing child porn for a while,” Thompson said.

The agents will testify that Weathers detailed “he liked prepubescent girls and boys, but preferred young girls that self-produced child porn, took pictures of their own body parts, and that he was particularly interested in incest and bestiality.”

Weathers also told agents where the child porn could be found — under his password-protected account in a folder with the name of a video game, Zelda. And that’s where they found hundreds of child porn images and bestiality, Thompson said.

Weathers’ interest in child porn “started as early as age 18 or 19 and that he has struggled with sexual interest in children throughout his life,” Thompson said. “You’ll hear about how he has urges to act on sexual interest in children, and when he does, he accesses child porn so he does not act out on a child. ...You’ll hear about the sexual fantasies he’s had about certain family members and how he deals with those.”

Weathers’ lead lawyer, David K. Sergi, said it was not Weathers who accessed the child porn.

“What you’ll hear from our side is a very simple explanation as to why my client falsely confessed because there was a resident who actively accessed that Web site and he was protecting that child,” Sergi told jurors. “Stupid? Yes, but you’ll hear an explanation about why he was compelled to make the statements he gave.

“The long and short of this case boils down to who sat down behind the computer,” Sergi argued. “You’ll also hear from his wife, who will tell you about the issues they have with her son, juvenile probation problems, sexually-involved that led her to suspect this (user) was not her husband.”

Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 10 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. He has also covered immigration, minority affairs and legal affairs as part of the projects team here and for other print, TV and radio outlets. Guillermo has also worked in Central America, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and California and his work has appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, Denver Post and the Albuquerque Journal.